Apparatus and methods for improving parallel conduction in a quantum well device

ABSTRACT

Embodiments of an apparatus and methods of providing a quantum well device for improved parallel conduction are generally described herein. Other embodiments may be described and claimed.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The field of invention relates generally to the field of semiconductorintegrated circuit manufacturing and, more specifically but notexclusively, relates to quantum well structures with a P-N(positive-negative) junction superlattice to provide rectification ofpotential leakage current.

BACKGROUND INFORMATION

A variety of electronic and optoelectronic devices with quantum welltransistors comprising epitaxially grown heterostructures, formed onsubstrates such as silicon, offer exceptionally high carrier mobility inthe transistor channel. These devices provide exceptionally high drivecurrent performance, enable lower power consumption and deliver higherspeed logic applications. However, positive-type metal oxidesemiconductors (PMOS) with quantum wells suffer low mobility in thetransistor channel as compared to negative-type metal oxidesemiconductors (NMOS) with quantum wells. Mobility of PMOS quantum wellscan be enhanced by straining the quantum wells, but a correspondingdrawback occurs in the form of increasing amounts of parallelconduction, leading to degradation in OFF-State leakage current.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The foregoing aspects and many of the attendant advantages of thisinvention will become more readily appreciated as the same becomesbetter understood by reference to the following detailed description,when taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, wherein likereference numerals refer to like parts throughout the various viewsunless otherwise specified:

FIG. 1 is a flowchart describing one embodiment of a fabrication processused to form a quantum well structure with a P-N junction superlattice.

FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view of a quantum well structure with a P-Njunction superlattice on a substrate.

FIG. 3 is an isometric view of a non-planar quantum well deviceincluding a gate electrode and gate isolation spacers.

FIG. 4 illustrates a system with a central processing unit comprisingmodulation doped non-planar transistors.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

In various embodiments, an apparatus and methods for incorporating a P-Njunction superlattice in a quantum well device are described. In thefollowing description, various embodiments will be described. However,one skilled in the relevant art will recognize that the variousembodiments may be practiced without one or more of the specificdetails, or with other replacement and/or additional methods, materials,or components. In other instances, well-known structures, materials, oroperations are not shown or described in detail to avoid obscuringaspects of various embodiments of the invention. Similarly, for purposesof explanation, specific numbers, materials, and configurations are setforth in order to provide a thorough understanding of the invention.Nevertheless, the invention may be practiced without specific details.Furthermore, it is understood that the various embodiments shown in thefigures are illustrative representations and are not necessarily drawnto scale.

Reference throughout this specification to “one embodiment” or “anembodiment” means that a particular feature, structure, material, orcharacteristic described in connection with the embodiment is includedin at least one embodiment of the invention, but do not denote that theyare present in every embodiment. Thus, the appearances of the phrases“in one embodiment” or “in an embodiment” in various places throughoutthis specification are not necessarily referring to the same embodimentof the invention. Furthermore, the particular features, structures,materials, or characteristics may be combined in any suitable manner inone or more embodiments. Various additional layers and/or structures maybe included and/or described features may be omitted in otherembodiments.

Various operations will be described as multiple discrete operations inturn, in a manner that is most helpful in understanding the invention.However, the order of description should not be construed as to implythat these operations are necessarily order dependent. In particular,these operations need not be performed in the order of presentation.Operations described may be performed in a different order than thedescribed embodiment. Various additional operations may be performedand/or described operations may be omitted in additional embodiments.

Performance of planar and multi-gate transistors may be improved throughimplementation of epitaxially grown quantum wells comprising at leasttwo materials with different bandgaps, where the quantum well isrectified using a P-N junction superlattice embedded in or adjacent to abuffer layer to effectively isolate the quantum well from a substrate.Preferably, the bandgap materials are formed from group IV elements suchas silicon (Si) and germanium (Ge), however III-V and II-VI systems mayalso be used. A III-V system is a chemical compound consisting ofelements with at least one group III element and at least one group Velement. A II-VI system is a chemical compound consisting of elementswith at least one group II element and at least one group VI element. Anadvantage to employing a P-N junction superlattice, comprising aplurality of P-N junctions, between the quantum well and the substrateis that use of a plurality of P-N junctions increases the probabilitythat at least one of the P-N junctions will be defect free toelectrically isolate the quantum well from the substrate.

It would be an advance in the art of semiconductor device manufacturingto fabricate quantum wells with a P-N junction superlattice in oradjacent to a buffer layer using a process flow compatible withconventional silicon-based manufacturing capabilities. Use of quantumwells with a P-N junction superlattice can offer a significant reductionin parallel conduction as compared to similar devices comprising quantumwells. For example, positively-doped metal oxide semiconductor (PMOS)devices with quantum wells typically suffer from low mobility unless thequantum well is strained. However, a PMOS device with strained quantumwells may suffer from significant amounts of parallel conduction,resulting in a significant leakage current through parasitic layerswhich can severely degrade OFF State leakage current.

Embodiments for improving parallel conduction in a quantum well deviceare described in FIG. 1 in reference to the illustration in FIG. 2. Nowturning to the figures, FIG. 1 is a flowchart describing an embodimentof a fabrication process used to form a quantum well structure with aP-N junction superlattice to provide a rectified quantum well structure200 that may be embodied in a planar or non-planar quantum well device.In element 100, a silicon-based P-N junction is formed on a substrate.The silicon-based P-N junction corresponds to Si P-N junction 210 of therectified quantum well structure 200 in FIG. 2.

The Si P-N junction 210, as well as other layers in the rectifiedquantum well structure 200, is formed on a substrate 205 using one ormore of molecular beam epitaxy (MBE), liquid phase epitaxy (LPE),chemical vapor deposition (CVD), ultra high vacuum chemical vapordeposition (UHCVD), metalorganic chemical vapor deposition (MOCVD), oratomic layer epitaxy (ALE) methods. Substrate 205 may preferablycomprise bulk silicon and in some cases, a buried silicon-on-insulatorsubstructure (not shown). Alternatively, the substrate 205 may compriseother materials—which may or may not be combined with silicon—such as:germanium, indium antimonide, lead telluride, indium arsenide, indiumphosphide, gallium arsenide, or gallium antimonide. Although a fewexamples of materials from which substrate 205 may be formed aredescribed here, any material that may serve as a foundation upon which asemiconductor device may be built falls within the spirit and scope ofthe present invention.

In this embodiment, the Si P-N junction 210 is formed on the substrate205 with a positively-doped portion 207 of the Si P-N junction 210 grownon and directly adjacent to the substrate 205 and a negatively-dopedportion 209 of the Si P-N junction 210 grown on and directly adjacent tothe positively-doped portion 207. A thickness of the Si P-N junction 210ranges approximately between 500 angstroms (Å) and 10,000 Å. The Si P-Njunction 210 comprises silicon to provide a matching or closely matchingcrystal lattice at an interface between the substrate 205 and the Si P-Njunction 210. The positively-doped portion 207 is typically silicondoped with boron to a concentration ranging between 5.0E16 atoms/cm³ and1.0E19 atoms/cm³, or more preferably between 2.0E17 atoms/cm³ and 8.0E17atoms/cm³. However in another embodiment the positively-doped portion207 may be doped with another Group III element such as gallium (Ga) orindium (In). The negatively-doped portion 209 is typically silicon dopedwith phosphorus (P), arsenic (As), or antimony (Sb) to a concentrationranging between 1.0E16 atoms/cm³ and 1.0E19 atoms/cm³, or morepreferably between 2.0E17 atoms/cm³ and 8.0E17 atoms/cm³.

In element 110 of FIG. 1 and illustrated in FIG. 2, an interjunctionbuffer layer 215 is formed on the Si P-N junction 210. Formation of theinterjunction buffer layer 215 may be performed in-situ without exposingthe Si P-N junction 210 to potential contaminants. In one embodiment,the interjunction buffer layer 215 is formed of a uniform layer ofsilicon germanium (SiGe) with a thickness sufficient to minimize oreliminate crystal lattice mismatch, ranging approximately between 1,000Å to 10,000 Å. In another embodiment, the interjunction buffer layer 215is formed of a graded layer of SiGe to provide a transition between thelattice sizing of the Si P-N junction 210 and a lattice sizing of anadjacently positioned SiGe P-N junction 220. The use of a graded layerof SiGe for the interjunction buffer layer 215 may reduce or eliminatedefects in the SiGe P-N junction 220 due to crystal lattice mismatch toprovide enhanced isolation from the substrate 205. In this embodiment,the interjunction buffer layer 215 is a continuously graded layer ofSiGe with approximately 20 atomic weight % (at wt %) Ge concentration atthe interface of the Si P-N junction 210 and up to approximately 80 atwt % Ge concentration at the interface of the SiGe P-N junction 220. Inanother embodiment, the interjunction buffer layer 215 is a step-gradedlayer of SiGe with relatively abrupt changes in Ge concentration along athickness of the interjunction buffer layer 215 from a lower Geconcentration at the interface of the Si P-N junction 210 to a higher Geconcentration at the interface of the SiGe P-N junction 220.

The SiGe P-N junction 220 is formed on the interjunction buffer layer215, as described in element 120 of FIG. 1, with a positively-dopedportion 207 of the SiGe P-N junction 220 grown on and directly adjacentto the interjunction buffer layer 215 and a negatively-doped portion 209of the SiGe P-N junction 220 grown on and directly adjacent to thepositively-doped portion 207. Formation of the SiGe P-N junction 220 incombination with the Si P-N junction 210 creates a P-N junctionsuperlattice. An application of a SiGe P-N junction is to diminish orprevent leakage current from reaching the interjunction buffer layer215. Two P-N junctions are described in FIG. 1 and illustrated in FIG.2, however, additional P-N junctions (not shown) may be added to providea P-N junction superlattice that further enhances isolation from thesubstrate 205.

A thickness of the SiGe P-N junction 220 ranges approximately between500 Å and 10,000 Å. The SiGe P-N junction 220 comprises a SiGe compoundto provide a matching or closely matching crystal lattice at aninterface between the SiGe P-N junction 220 and an adjacent layer, suchas the SiGe buffer layer 225 illustrated in FIG. 2. The positively-dopedportion 207 is typically SiGe doped with boron to a concentrationranging between 5.0E16 atoms/cm³ and 1.0E19 atoms/cm³, or morepreferably between 2.0E17 atoms/cm³ and 8.0E17 atoms/cm³.

In element 130 of FIG. 1 and illustrated in FIG. 2, a top buffer layeris optionally formed on the SiGe P-N junction 220. In this embodiment,the top buffer layer is a SiGe buffer layer 225 comprising aconcentration ranging between 40 at. wt. % and 80 at. wt. % of Ge, ormore preferably between 65 at. wt. % and 75 at. wt. % of Ge. Formationof the SiGe P-N junction 220 may be performed in-situ without exposingthe SiGe P-N junction 220 to potential contaminants. In one embodiment,the SiGe buffer layer 225 is formed of a uniform layer of silicongermanium (SiGe) with a thickness up to approximately 1,000 Å, thoughthe embodiment is not so limited. In another embodiment, the SiGe bufferlayer 225 is formed of a graded layer of SiGe to reduce or eliminatelattice defects at or near an interface between the SiGe buffer layer225 and an adjacent layer.

In element 140 of FIG. 1 and illustrated in FIG. 2, a bottom barrierlayer 230 is formed on the SiGe buffer layer 225. In this embodiment,the bottom barrier layer 230 is formed from a SiGe compound comprising aconcentration of Ge ranging between 40 at. wt. % and 80 at. wt. %. Thebottom barrier layer 230 is grown epitaxially to a thickness rangingbetween 10 nm to 50 nanometers (nm) or more preferably between 10 nm to30 nm.

In element 150 of FIG. 1 and illustrated in FIG. 2, a delta doping layer235 is formed on the bottom barrier layer 230. Formation of the deltadoping layer 235 may be performed by suspending the epitaxial formationof bottom barrier layer 230 and exposing a surface of the bottom barrierlayer 230 to a flux of elemental doping atoms or to a flux of a dopingprecursor. Formation of the delta doping layer 235 provides awell-defined and narrow dopant layer to provide a doping distributionthat has a high peak concentration and a narrow distribution width asnarrow as a single atomic layer. A thickness of the delta doping layer235 may range between 5 Å to 300 Å and more preferably between 5 Å to 20Å. Materials used to form the delta doping layer 235 may be boron (B),phosphorus (P), arsenic (As), and/or antimony (Sb).

Following formation of the delta doping layer 235, a spacer layer 240 isformed in element 160 of FIG. 1. The spacer layer 240 may comprise thesame material used to form the bottom barrier layer 230, though theembodiment is not so limited. For example, the spacer layer 240 may beformed of a material likely to provide an improved lattice match with anoverlying and adjacent layer. The spacer layer 240 may be formed byterminating the dopant source used to form the delta doping layer 235and resuming the epitaxial growth used to form the bottom barrier layer230. Formation of the spacer layer 240 in this manner substantiallyconfines the doping atoms to the region of the delta doping layer 235.The stack of layers illustrated in FIG. 2 including the bottombarrier,layer 230, delta doping layer 235 and the spacer layer 240 is adelta doped large bandgap stack 245.

In element 170 of FIG. 1, a quantum well layer comprising narrow bandgapmaterial corresponding to a narrow bandgap layer 250 of FIG. 2 is formedon the spacer layer 240 with a narrow bandgap material formed adjacentto a large bandgap material. The narrow bandgap layer 250 is formed ofGe in this embodiment, though the embodiment is not so limited. Thenarrow bandgap layer 250 may alternately be formed of InSb or GaAs. Athickness of the narrow bandgap layer 250 ranges between 5 nm to 100 nmor more preferably between 20 nm to 40 nm.

In element 180 of FIG. 1, a top barrier layer 255 is optionally formedon the narrow bandgap layer 250. The top barrier layer 255 of FIG. 2 isformed of SiGe using an epitaxial process in one embodiment. However,the top barrier layer 255 may also be formed of another material with arelatively large bandgap, such as InAlAs, AlGaAs, AlInSb, and InP. Athickness of the top barrier layer 255 is selectively designed toprovide desired barrier characteristics and may range between 10 nm to60 nm or more preferably between 15 nm to 30 nm in one embodiment.

The rectified quantum well structure may be employed in a variety ofembodiments, such as a modulation doped planar transistor (not shown) ornon-planar transistor drawn along X, Y, and Z axes of a Cartesiancoordinate system as illustrated in FIG. 3. In this embodiment, the topbarrier layer 255 of FIG. 2 is eroded to expose the narrow bandgap layer250. The narrow bandgap layer 250 is exposed by etching the top barrierlayer 255 using dry etch and/or wet etch techniques known to one skilledin the art. The particular dry etch and/or wet etch sequence provided isselective to etching the top barrier layer 255 without significantlydisturbing the narrow bandgap layer 260.

The narrow bandgap layer 250 and a portion of the delta doped largebandgap stack 245 of FIG. 2 is patterned to form a multi-gate body 320,as illustrated in FIG. 3. The narrow bandgap layer 250 may be patternedusing photolithography and etch techniques to create a tri-gate devicestructure with three gates of substantially the same length. In analternate embodiment, the narrow bandgap layer 250 is patterned tocreate a narrow finFET structure with two gates of substantially thesame length (not shown). The portion of the delta doped large bandgapstack 245 is also patterned to form recessed regions. In thisembodiment, portions of the bottom barrier layer 230, the delta dopinglayer 235, and the spacer layer 240 of FIG. 2 are eroded to form a largebandgap structure 305 and to provide recesses for the formation ofisolation regions 315 adjacent to the large bandgap structure 305. Thelarge bandgap structure 305 may be formed by patterning the delta dopedlarge bandgap stack 245 during the formation of a multi-gate body 320,which serves as an active region for the modulation doped non-planartransistor.

The large bandgap structure 305 is patterned to provide a large bandgapbase thickness 310 wherein the large bandgap base thickness 310 may benearly equal to the entire thickness of the large bandgap structure 305.Alternately, the large bandgap base thickness 310 may be zero, such thatthe isolation regions 315 are directly adjacent to the SiGe buffer layer225. The isolation regions 315 may be formed of a dielectric materialsuch as a silicon oxide, silicon nitride, silicon oxynitride, or ahigh-k dielectric material. Some of the materials that may be used toform isolation regions 315 include: hafnium oxide, hafnium siliconoxide, lanthanum oxide, lanthanum aluminum oxide, zirconium oxide,zirconium silicon oxide, tantalum oxide, titanium oxide, bariumstrontium titanium oxide, barium titanium oxide, strontium titaniumoxide, yttrium oxide, aluminum oxide, lead scandium tantalum oxide, andlead zinc niobate. The isolation regions 315 may be formed using aconventional deposition method, e.g., a conventional chemical vapordeposition (“CVD”), low pressure CVD, or physical vapor deposition(“PVD”) process. Preferably, a conventional atomic layer CVD process isused.

A multi-gate dielectric layer 330 is formed on the multi-gate body 320and the isolation regions 315, the multi-gate dielectric layer 330comprising at least one of silicon oxide or a high-K material. Thehigh-K material comprises at least one of lanthanum oxide, tantalumoxide, titanium oxide, hafnium oxide, zirconium oxide,lead-zirconate-titanate, barium-strontium-titanate, or aluminum oxide.The multi-gate dielectric layer 330 is deposited as a conformal layer onthe multi-gate body 320 using methods known to persons having ordinaryskill in the art, such as plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition(PECVD), high density chemical vapor deposition (HDCVD), molecularorganic chemical vapor deposition (MOCVD), Atomic Layer Deposition(ALD), or sputtering.

A conformal workfunction metal layer 335 is fabricated at a desiredthickness on the multi-gate dielectric layer 330. A workfunction metalis a metal with a known work function, which is an inherentcharacteristic of the metal expressed in units of electron volts (eV).In one embodiment, the workfunction metal layer 330 comprises at leastone of titanium nitride, tantalum nitride, or another transition nitridemetal. A workfunction metal layer thickness is a function of thetargeted threshold voltage (V_(t)) for the multi-gate device. In oneembodiment, the workfunction metal layer is formed using a directionalsensitive physical vapor deposition (PVD) process.

A multi-gate electrode 340, such as polysilicon, and a hard mask 345 isfabricated on the workfunction metal layer 335. The multi-gate electrode340 and the hard mask 345 are formed by a series of deposition,lithography, and etch processes known to one ordinarily skilled in theart. The multi-gate electrode 340 may be doped or un-doped and the hardmask 345 may comprise silicon nitride or silicon oxynitride. Gateisolation spacers 350 are formed to protect the multi-gate electrode340, the workfunction metal layer 335, and the multi-gate dielectriclayer 330 during subsequent processing. In this embodiment, thenon-planar transistor of FIG. 3 is configured for improved parallelconduction by rectifying potential current caused by current flowleakage to the substrate 205. Application of the P-N junctionsuperlattice comprising the Si P-N junction 210 and the SiGe P-Njunction 220 can significantly reduce parallel conduction due to leakagecurrent to the substrate 205.

FIG. 4 illustrates a system with a central processing unit comprisingmodulation doped planar and/or non-planar transistors. Here, acommunications system 400 for processing data with a central processingunit (CPU) 410 comprising transistors with modulation doped non-planartransistors is illustrated in accordance with one embodiment. Thecommunications system 400 may include a motherboard 420 with the CPU410, and a networking interface 430 coupled to a bus 440. Morespecifically, the CPU 410 may comprise the earlier described modulationdoped non-planar transistors and/or its method of fabrication. Dependingon the applications, the communications system 400 may additionallyinclude other components, including but are not limited to volatile andnon-volatile memory, a graphics processor, a digital signal processor, acrypto processor, a chipset, mass storage (such as hard disk, compactdisk (CD), digital versatile disk (DVD) and so forth), and so forth. Oneor more of these components may also include the earlier describedgraded high germanium content silicon-germanium region and/or its methodof fabrication. In various embodiments, communications system 400 may bea personal digital assistant (PDA), a mobile device, a tablet computingdevice, a laptop computing device, a desktop computing device, a set-topbox, an entertainment control unit, a digital camera, a digital videorecorder, a CD player, a DVD player, or other digital device of thelike.

The foregoing description of the embodiments of the invention has beenpresented for the purposes of illustration and description. It is notintended to be exhaustive or to limit the invention to the precise formsdisclosed. This description and the claims following include terms, suchas left, right, top, bottom, over, under, upper, lower, first, second,etc. that are used for descriptive purposes only and are not to beconstrued as limiting. For example, terms designating relative verticalposition refer to a situation where a device side (or active surface) ofa substrate or integrated circuit is the “top” surface of thatsubstrate; the substrate may actually be in any orientation so that a“top” side of a substrate may be lower than the “bottom” side in astandard terrestrial frame of reference and still fall within themeaning of the term “top.” The term “on” as used herein (including inthe claims) does not indicate that a first layer “on” a second layer isdirectly on and in immediate contact with the second layer unless suchis specifically stated; there may be a third layer or other structurebetween the first layer and the second layer on the first layer. Theembodiments of a device or article described herein can be manufactured,used, or shipped in a number of positions and orientations.

Persons skilled in the relevant art can appreciate that manymodifications and variations are possible in light of the aboveteaching. Persons skilled in the art will recognize various equivalentcombinations and substitutions for various components shown in theFigures. It is therefore intended that the scope of the invention belimited not by this detailed description, but rather by the claimsappended hereto.

1. A quantum well device, comprising: a substrate comprising a firstmaterial; a first P-N junction on the substrate, the first P-N junctioncomprising the first material; a buffer layer on the first P-N junction,the buffer layer comprising the first material and a second material; adelta doped large bandgap stack on the buffer layer, the delta dopedlarge bandgap stack comprising the second material; and a narrow bandgaplayer on the delta doped large bandgap stack.
 2. The quantum well deviceof claim 1, further comprising a second P-N junction on the buffer layercomprising the second material.
 3. The quantum well device of claim 2,wherein the first material is silicon and the second material isgermanium.
 4. The quantum well device of claim 1, wherein the first P-Njunction further comprises a positively doped portion doped with boronto a concentration ranging between 2.0E17 atoms/cm³ and 8.0E17atoms/cm³.
 5. The quantum well device of claim 2, wherein the quantumwell device is a planar transistor.
 6. The quantum well device of claim2, further comprising a top barrier layer with a thickness rangingbetween 15 nanometers to 30 nanometers.
 7. The quantum well device ofclaim 2, wherein the narrow bandgap layer ranges between 20 nanometersto 40 nanometers in thickness.
 8. A non-planar transistor, comprising: asubstrate; a P-N junction superlattice on the substrate; a delta dopedlarge bandgap stack on the P-N junction superlattice; and a multi-gatebody on the delta doped large bandgap stack.
 9. The non-planartransistor of claim 8, further comprising a buffer layer between a firstP-N junction and a second P-N junction of the P-N junction superlattice.10. The non-planar transistor of claim 9, wherein the first P-N junctioncomprises silicon and the second P-N junction comprises germanium. 11.The non-planar transistor of claim 9, wherein the first P-N junctionfurther comprises a negatively doped portion, the negatively dopedportion is doped with a dopant selected from the group consisting ofphosphorus (P), arsenic (As), and antimony (Sb).
 12. The non-planartransistor of claim 9, further comprising a workfunction metal on themulti-gate body and an isolation region. 13.The non-planar transistor ofclaim 12, further comprising a multi-gate electrode on the workfunctionmetal.
 14. The non-planar transistor of claim 13, wherein the multi-gatebody comprises a concentration of Ge ranging between 40 and 80 atomicweight %.
 15. A method comprising: forming a first P-N junction on asubstrate; forming a first buffer layer on the first P-N junction;forming a second P-N junction on the buffer layer; forming a secondbuffer layer on the second P-N junction; and forming a delta doped largebandgap stack on the second buffer layer.
 16. The method of claim 15,wherein the first P-N junction further comprises a positively dopedportion, the positively doped portion is doped with boron to aconcentration ranging between 2.0E17 atoms/cm³ and 8.0E17 atoms/cm³. 17.The method of claim 15, further comprising a narrow bandgap layer and atop barrier layer on the delta doped large bandgap stack.
 18. The methodof claim 17, wherein a thickness of the top barrier layer ranges between15 nanometers to 30 nanometers (nm).
 19. The method of claim 17, whereinthe narrow bandgap layer ranges between 20 nanometers to 40 nanometers(nm) in thickness.
 20. The method of claim 15, wherein the delta dopedlarge bandgap stack comprises germanium (Ge).